The recon skidded to a halt on the forest path before Summer turned it around to face the enemy. No one seemed to be hurt apart from the vehicle sporting some extra bullet holes. She was sure the marching infantry heard the gunfire and were on their way. Finding cover and using the recon as bait seemed like a good idea unless their counterparts reached the enemy before they could follow. Either way one team would take the brunt of the enemy attack. "Sir! Orders?"

Log-207-E (continued)
Observation: enemies have been lost
Summer: Sir! Orders?
Bittman: Turn the recon around and charge right back into battle!
Bittman: We shall use it as a joust to pierce their Black Hole hides!
Summer: That sounds-
Suggestion: It might be better to-
Summer: ...like a great idea!
Summer: Fasten your seatbelts!
Observation: this vehicle has no seatbelts

Bittman quickly gave the order to get back in the fight. Summer was a little concerned the recon and its occupants would take damage but knew either them or the footsoldiers would have to engage first. The BH inf started piping in about something so Summer cut it off by revving the engine. "Fasten your seatbelts! I've got a really bad idea!"

sven, are you going to take any action besides talking? A light sentence like that, even a commanding one, doesn't count as an action for the sake of combat actions. If not, that's fine, but I just want to be sure.

Yes, Enemies can move. They probably will in later engagements. Right now though, they're pretty confused and it's about to get ugly for them

Also, a refinement to the rules- earlier I posted you can either move or attack in a turn, not both. Having thought about it after seeing the combat in action, I've already come to the conclusion that that's the type of rule that would kinda make sense in the game but doesn't work too well in play by posting (to be fair, FATE doesn't emphasize movement much anyway, I'm emphasizing it more because come on, it's AW). So yeah, You can move while attacking. So 2 actions per turn now, as long as 1 of those actions is movement related. I just don't want it to become too easy to escape combat through moving so I'll probably figure out a "break away" rolling mechanic. This should make combat more fluid and speed it up a little.

With that in mind then, I'd actually like two Drive checks from you, Kiwi- one to turn around on a dime, and one to ram into your opponents as an attack. Unless you don't WANT to attack this turn, in which case that's perfectly fine. (you can use the 10 on either).

HPD wrote:You know the only thing on the agenda of the Squirtle Squad is pure, unadulterated chaos.

No, ML. I'll make one last update this afternoon, before handing it over to Narts. I'm just going to end this combat prematurely. I don't want Narts to have to deal with it. I'll try to update your situation ML in that last post.

HPD wrote:You know the only thing on the agenda of the Squirtle Squad is pure, unadulterated chaos.

I am the man who wastes his by putting way too much effort into a dumb forum RP!

The infantry platoon, with their experienced manoeuvering, led by Corporal Lewis and Vasil catch the already shaken and confused Black Hole infantry entirely by surprise.

Hails of bullets from within the thick foliage mow them all down without much trouble.

The battlefield quiets down, as the Allied troops listen and watch their surroundings for any surviving enemy troops.

Suddenly, one private from Lewis' unit lets out a shout.

"TANKS INCOMING! TAKE COVER!"

Surely enough, only a few seconds later, the hellish rumble of an approaching tracked vehicle can be heard by everyone. If this wasn't bad enough by itself, multiple smoke grenades go off where the Black Hole squad used to be, and shouts can be heard from the forests north and south from you.

Bittman, Summer and Teddy are listening in horror (or the closest computerised equivalent of horror, in Teddy's case) as screams of panic and death can be heard from behind the curtain of smoke, amidst chaotic machine gun fire from all directions.

The occasional Black Hole soldier can be seen moving quickly and determinately among the trees, only to disappear within a second. These guys seem different from the earlier, now dead Black Holes somehow. They seem to be knowing what they're doing.

The Black Hole Medium Tank rolls into view from the north, turned into an ominous black silhouette by the surrounding smoke. Its turret begins swiveling towards the Recon vehicle while its machine gun is firing randomly into the woods with a deafening roar.

Pincered!

The middle zone is COVERED BY THICK SMOKE meaning it's very hard to see anything inside or across that zone - and by extension, to hit anything with any sort of weapon.

The situation looks utterly hopeless. That means, even if you may entertain notions of heroism, if you stick around, you absolutely will die.

Bittman, Summer and Teddy: You have one obvious course of action to take.

You may scramble for the vehicle (Roll for Athletics) if you're not already inside.

If you're driving, you may Drive (duh) away.

In addition, I want everyone to roll for Will as the sudden turn of events is taking its toll on your morale.

Less obvious, but potentially useful actions include:

Notice to gain any useful intel on these newly arrived enemy reinforcements or on the unfolding situation in general. There is the feel that there is something unusual about these troops, but sticking around to gather information may be too risky.

I don't recommend trying to stay and fight the clearly superior enemy force, but if you want to, you may make Shoot rolls as usual. Just remember that none of you have any weapons that can scratch Md. Tank armour.

* Meanwhile, in the mysterious room in an indeterminate location *

Lad has been yelling so hard he is sweating and panting from exhaustion, when he eventually gives up trying to get the attention of the guards.

It has become clear by this point that nobody is hearing you, or if they do, they don't care.

You glance at the man next to you and shudder involuntarily. The man's face has turned white and he isn't breathing anymore.

Smoke started billowing in the area where the encounter had started. What's that, some kind of smoke signal? Summer thought. All of a sudden a thunderous sound echoed across the forest followed by a downpour of bullets. The BH inf made a tense announcement, "Warning: Large Enemy Armor Approaching. Advise disengagement from combat." A large metal silhouette came into view ahead of them. Summer quickly started to turn around. She could see Bittman was about to object while checking the vehicle's surroundings. "Sorry capn' but I'm getting us outta here!"

"Should we radio Vasil?" It's not like they don't know we're here. "Yeah, someone get on the radio while I take us to the outpost or whatever we originally planned." Hopefully they had survived the surprise attack by enemy reinforcements.

Log-208-E
Situation Update: enemy reinforcements
New Objective: escape
Summer: Someone get on the radio while I take us to
Summer: the outpost or whatever we originally planned.
Reply: I am unable to reach the radio from the turret seat.
Summer: Oh, that's too bad.
Summer: So, you mind telling us where those troops came from?
Reply: We are in BH-controlled territory.
Reply: It is only natural that there are troops active.
Reply: There is a command center to the north.
Reply: Allied opposition is to the south.
Summer: I meant- Look, those guys seemed different.
Reply: Processing scan data. Inhibited by lack of stable view.
Summer: Well excuse me for trying to get us out quickly!

Teddy: Your sensors do a quick-scan of a couple of enemy soldiers as they rush between covers.

They seem to be part of the small human core of the Black Hole army. Even though the use of human soldiers by Black Hole has become less common in recent years, there are still tasks for which humans are irreplaceable. Most recently, as the limitations of drone infantry have become increasingly evident, BH has scaled back their reliance on automation and reintroduced larger contingents of human troops to their army.

However, not only are these humans, they are elite humans.

Their knowledge of the terrain and the ability to use it to their advantage demonstrates superior training. Their movements bear some similarity to the Terrain Tactics sub-program installed to you by Lash, but they seem more advanced.

They wear powered combat suits that look similar to standard drone armour, however there appear to be non-standard parts attached to their weapons, which you are unable to identify.

The distance is too large, and the vehicle is shaking too much for you to be able to read their badges in detail, but a search based on the blurry, low-resolution imagery through your database of known Black Hole units results in no matches. This is likely to be a new unit formed after Lash and Hawke's defection.

This is all the information you were able to glean of what you've seen.

Most of the small arms fire coming your way seems to be fired more or less blindly and does not succeed in causing real damage. The Md. Tank's main cannon fires once, felling a large tree some 30 metres away from you, followed by silence. Which is odd, you think, as you are not yet outside the gun's range.

However, the recon vehicle was not meant to travel at this high a speed at this rough a terrain. A short lapse in your judgement causes the vehicle to hit a rock at such an angle as to cause it to roll over.

The door at the shotgun's side is ripped off and Bittman is ejected from the vehicle. And so is Teddy.

The vehicle settles gracefully into a roof-down position with one of its wheels and some other parts missing.

None of you thankfully were seriously hurt by the impact. Except the two privates in the backseat who are dead. Though it appears at least one of them was dead from gunfire before the crash, nobody just thought to check their status. Oops.

Summer only suffered some minor scratches and bruises - your body hurts everywhere but all of your limbs seem to be working and attached and you manage to crawl out of the wreck.

Teddy landed into a relatively soft patch of land and vegetation and he has a tough carapace. The impact forced a couple of non-critical systems to reboot but you are otherwise fine.

Bittman is nowhere to be seen. You are surrounded by pain and darkness and you have no idea which way you lie. You don't remember drinking last night. You may roll for Notice to regain your situational awareness.

Summer + Teddy: You may use Notice to search for Bittman OR to observe the pursuers' status.

Status: systems stabilized
vehicle overturned, hostiles near
Scanning for wounded...
Scan complete, back seat passengers deceased
one appears to have died before the crash
driver is missing, may be on other side of vehicle
front seat passenger is missing, should be nearby
Calculating most likely trajectories...

His throat had become raw and it hurt to swallow, yet it hadn't helped one bit. Nobody had heard his cries, or at least they hadn't responded to them. Those bastards. The guy which had been murmuring and spluttering on the other side of his cell had also gone eerily still, the Lad believed to see his face had gone pasty white, though that could just be his eyes deceiving him because of the lack of light. If he was dead, good on him. At least he wouldn't be the one to enjoy the delightful aromas of decaying flesh.
The prospect almost warmed him.

If he wasn't going to be able to get someone else to free him, he'd have to find some other way. All his tools and gear had been taken from him, along with his clothes which had contained concealed pockets containing spare weaponry and rations. He spat on the ground, this is no good. He looked around and all he could see was the vague image of the a box near his feat. If only he could reach it, maybe he could flip it over to see what's in it...

Your valiant efforts were not in vain and you manage to loosen the ropes enough to reach the box with your legs. It's hard to get a grip on the heavy object by your toes alone, but slowly you manage to slide it closer to yourself... you are interrupted when you hear a faint rustle from the other captive's direction.

You thought he was dead! Surprised, you turn your head - even in the dimness of the cellar, you can distinguish movement from the man's body.

Unfortunately, it is not his body that is moving. It is something inside him. And whatever it is, it wants out.

Bittman: You roll around on what feels like a flat, stony surface and bump against a wall. Although your body is aching, nothing seems to be broken, as far as you can tell. You just happen to be blind.

The air feels dry and dusty.

...what was that? A faint hint of light? You stare upwards lying on your back, squinting, and indeed it looks like there is a small hole above you letting in sunrays to light up a cone of dust floating in the air.

Fate works in mysterious ways. It appears you have fallen through a hole in the ground.

You could use Notice again to search your surroundings, or you could shout to get your comrades' attention.

The recon accident left Summer briefly dazed. Despite the vehicle completely rolling over, she wasn't badly hurt. Unfortunately, the two nameless infantry in the back were dead. Great, my lucky streak continues, she groaned to herself. Some yards away the BH inf lay in a patch of grass and turf completely intact. Figures. There was no sign of Bittman or bits of Bittman so Summer scanned the distance for enemy activity.